Expert Analysis

• Opinion

  Congress Should Finally Add Clarity To Section 101

  

  With both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate introducing bills to provide guidance on what qualifies as patentable subject matter under the Patent Act, Congress will hopefully put an end at last to 10 years of uncertainty surrounding the question, says David Carstens at Carstens Allen.

• 5 Advertising Law Trends To Watch In 2025

  

  Although advertisers are encouraged by the incoming Trump administration's focus on deregulation, this year could feel like wading through uncharted waters, and decreased federal government regulation may mean increased state regulation, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

• 5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2025 And Beyond

  

  In the year to come, e-discovery will be shaped by new and emerging trends, from the adoption of artificial intelligence provisions in protective orders, to the proliferation of emojis as a source of evidence in contemporary litigation, say attorneys at Littler.

• 4 Trade Secret Developments To Follow This Year

  

  Significant developments in trade secret law are likely in 2025, and areas to watch include protection of AI-related innovations, the fate of the Federal Trade Commission's noncompete ban, and questions of the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act's extraterritorial reach, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

• Republican Trifecta Amplifies Risks For Cos. In 3 Key Areas

  

  Expected coordination between a Republican Congress and presidential administration may expose companies to simultaneous criminal, civil and congressional investigations, particularly with regard to supply chain risks in certain industries, government contracting and cross-border investment, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

• New Law In NY Places Employee NIL Rights In Spotlight

  

  New York recently became the first state to codify name, image and likeness rights for models, but as such protections seemingly expand for individual employees across industries, employers may want to brush up on related case law, and update their handbooks and policies accordingly, says Timothy Bechen at Woods Rogers.

• Penn State Brand Case Leaves Ornamentality Unresolved

  

  While the recent jury verdict in Penn State University v. Vintage Brand was a win for the college and brands, legal practitioners should expect plenty of litigation around unaddressed ornamentality issues of whether marks that are not yet incontestable can be canceled for being used solely in decorative, non-source-identifying ways, say attorneys at Debevoise.

• Defense Strategies For Addressing Conspiracy-Minded Jurors

  

  As conspiracy theories continue to proliferate and gain traction in the U.S., defense attorneys will need to consider ways to keep conspiracy-minded jurors from sitting on the jury, and to persuade them when this isn’t possible, say consultants at IMS Legal Strategies.

• 7 Ways 2nd Trump Administration May Affect Partner Hiring

  

  President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House will likely have a number of downstream effects on partner hiring in the legal industry, from accelerated hiring timelines to increased vetting of prospective employees, say recruiters at Macrae.

• Reviewing 2024's AI Patent And Copyright Developments

  

  Attorneys at Rothwell Figg provide highlights on procedural and substantive intellectual property issues pertaining to AI in 2024 from the Copyright Office and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, followed by what to expect in 2025.

• Trump, Tariffs And Tech: The Right To Repair In 2025

  

  The "right-to-repair" movement has helped make it easier for independent repair shops and consumers to repair their devices and vehicles — but President-elect Donald Trump's complicated relationship with Big Tech, and his advocacy for increased tariffs, make the immediate future of the movement uncertain, say attorneys at Carter Ledyard.

• E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Custodian Selection

  

  Several recent rulings make clear that the proportionality of additional proposed custodians will depend on whether the custodians have unique relevant documents, and producing parties should consider whether information already in the record will show that they have relevant documents that otherwise might not be produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

• Fed. Circ. Patent Decisions In 2024: An Empirical Review

  

  Despite an ever-increasing backlog of argument-ready cases, the Federal Circuit issued fewer decisions in 2024 than in previous years, and the decisions' overall friendliness toward patent owners and applicants was low, says Dan Bagatell at Perkins Coie.

• What To Expect In Higher Ed Enforcement Under Trump

  

  Colleges and universities should prepare for shifting priorities, as President-elect Donald Trump is likely to focus less on antitrust cases and more on foreign relations policy, while congressional oversight of higher education continues to increase, say attorneys at Steptoe.

• How Trial Attys Can Wield Amended Federal Evidence Rules

  

  Trial lawyers should assess recent amendments to four Federal Rules of Evidence and a newly enacted rule on illustrative aids to determine how to best use the rules to enhance pretrial discovery and trial strategy, says Stewart Edelstein, former litigation chair at Cohen & Wolf.